Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn

King Henry VIII originally courted Anne Boleyn’s sister Mary, but it was Anne who caught the English royal’s wandering eye — though she refused to be his mistress. She wanted to be Queen. Unfortunately for Anne, the temperamental King had another change of heart and ordered her execution in 1536. Henry VIII wrote Anne this letter in 1527:

“I beg to know expressly your intention touching the love between us. Necessity compels me to obtain this answer, having been more than a year wounded by the dart of love, and not yet sure whether I shall fail or find a place in your affection.”